Electric center irrigation pivots typically have original local controls located on main panels at the pivoting ends of the pivots. A lack of standardization of these controls across different manufacturers of such pivots means that users must be trained to use a variety of different controls and may still become confused and make potentially costly mistakes.
Some such pivots do not include original remote controls. When remote controls are desired, one solution is to entirely replace the original control systems, but this can be prohibitively expensive. Another solution is to install after-market remote controls, but this can pose other problems. After-market remote controls are often installed on the opposite ends of the pivot from the original local controls so that its internal global positioning system (GPS) or other position-determining functionalities can better determine the operating positions of the pivots. This means that the pivots have to be continuously electrified along substantially their entire lengths, even when otherwise seemingly offline, to enable remote starting because electricity is needed to power the cellular or other communication systems on which the aftermarket remote controls rely to receive the remote start commands and because electricity is needed to communicate the received remote start commands from the remote controls to the original local controls at the opposite ends of the pivots. Such continuous electrification of the pivot can pose a safety concern, especially for those working on or around them without knowing about the electrical danger.
Furthermore, aftermarket remote controls are not fully integrated with the original local controls, such that commands relayed from the remote controls to the original local controls may be implemented relatively rather than absolutely. For example, if the remote control sets the pivot speed to 25%, and the original local control is set to 100%, then the resulting speed is the expected 25%. However, if the original local control is set to 25%, the unexpected resulting speed could be 25% of 25%, or 6.25%, which is equivalent to applying 4″ of water when only 1″ was desired.
Additionally, some aftermarket remote controls attempt to control the pivot systems by “interacting” electrically with them, but this does not always work effectively and the original local controls and the aftermarket remote controls may conflict over control of the pivots, which can cause undesirable operational run statuses and perhaps even override safeties and damage equipment and crops.
This background discussion is intended to provide information related to the present invention which is not necessarily prior art.